The Model 1911 handgun is one of the most well known and widely used handguns. Despite its popularity and long-standing use, there still exist drawbacks with this firearm. In particular, as a safety feature, most Model 1911's have a thumb safety located near the grip of the firearm adjacent the rear end thereof. The thumb safety generally is rotatable into a position wherein it will block the operation of the hammer and sear of the firearm. However, when the thumb safety is moved to its safe or engaging position, it also engages a notch formed in the slide so as to block movement of the slide as a further means of preventing inadvertent discharge since the hammer of the firearm typically must be in an extended, cocked position for use of the thumb safety. However, when the firearm has not been fully discharged but must be unloaded, since the slide cannot be operated with the thumb safety in its engaged, safe position, the chamber of the firearm also cannot be emptied to fully and properly unload the weapon unless the thumb safety is taken off of its safe position to allow operation of the slide.
Attempts have been made to try to machine the slide of Model 1911's to elongate the notch wherein the thumb safety engages the slide, to enable some movement of the slide and thus allow access to and clearing of the chamber. However, such modifications generally require a significant reconfiguration or replacement of the slide to provide for an elongated slot, which potentially adversely affects the appearance of the firearm and can be costly. In addition, the elongation of the slotted notch for the thumb safety can create a risk of the thumb safety being over-rotated and thus moved past or out of engagement with the sear, or otherwise being dislodged from its blocking engagement with the hammer and sear during movement of the slide. As a result, given that the hammer of the firearm generally must be in a cocked position upon engagement of the thumb safety, this potentially further can lead to inadvertent discharge of the firearm while the user attempts to clear the chamber.
Accordingly, it can be seen that a need exists for an improved thumb safety mechanism that addresses the foregoing and other related and unrelated problems in the art.